Sunday, 20 April 2014

Should People Be Disposable?

Should People Be Disposable?

I am sure that you have heard that we live in a disposable society. The phrase is meant to be about how materialistic we are and how things are built to be disposable and that is true. We do live in a materialistic society and nearly everyone from the past would say we personally are materialistic. But what I want to talk about is how much or how little do we value each other. In other words are people disposable?

Items are disposable, most people dispose of items when they stop working, some people as soon as they are bored with it. Many items are designed to be disposable, safety razors, toiletries, food. Nearly all items are disposed of when they are no longer needed or break, even expensive items such as a fridge, car, even houses can and are disposed of. Sometimes we keep things because they are attractive or as memento's but sadly once we are gone there is no guarantee that others will value these items as we do. But we accept, sometimes reluctantly that items are simply objects and in themselves they have no value, only the value we attach to them.

People are of course not objects or items, they are living and breathing but they are much more than that, they are also intelligent. Capable of understanding very complex topics, capable of dreaming and then creating that dream. People have transformed the world, with buildings, farming, vehicles and ideas. Not all of our dreams have been worthwhile, many have turned into nightmares. But no other creature is capable of this either. Only we can create and destroy in such a manner.

When we read or hear about great horrors in the world, the Holocaust, Stalins Gulags, an atrocity, a terrorist attack, a murder, we are revolted. When we read or hear a natural or man made disaster we are saddened. A part of us doesn't want to know these things happen, we imagine ourself or our loved ones in such horror and we think to ourself "Only by the grace of God". Why should we feel anything for people we have never met and probably never would have? Why do we feel for people who were long dead before we were born?

Because we know that Human life is precious, that it has value. That not only our life but even the life of people we can never know is precious. That it is precious because we are not immortal, that even the longest life will end. A century of life is a long time, unless you measure time in ice ages, but when it ends it is a unique life that is gone from this Earth forever. That is in most cases a sad thought, of course most people will not live that long but they will still die surrounded by loved ones. When people die in great stress and discomfort, particularly when it is far from home and loved ones it is normally much worse than a natural death. No matter how painful or young that death is.

But our society does not treat people as precious, it says that it does, it talks about Human Rights, it talks about how free you are. It's claims fall short however when you start to look at how precious your life is. Unemployment, abortion, divorce, Fatherlessness, the lack of severity in criminal punishments are all symptoms that show how disposable people are.

If you don't like your spouse being around anymore just dispose of them, I mean just divorce them, actually not much difference is there really. You don't need a good reason, any reason will do. Once upon a time marriage was for life, divorce was very rare, today it isn't. Today it is easier to get a divorce than it is to end any other legal contract. I know when you get married that you swear a vow, if your religious you swear before God, that your union is for life. But the Lawyers in Parliament don't care about that, all they care about is your vote not your life. Your life is a toy to them, if some people want the freedom to be single and no longer married thats a freedom they will grant. The consequences are for someone else to fix for someone else to clean up. The idea that they serve all of society is absurd to them, they serve whoever needs to be bribed, the vote is all that matter.

Unemployed? Think you have a safe job and that unemployment is not an option for you? I've sadly met many people who thought that, that they were too important to be let go by their company. But hardly anyone is that important. If they need or want to cut numbers then your job can be finished just like that. Disposed of, but don't worry you won't starve, you'll get unemployment if you haven't saved anything. You might not be able to pay your mortgage, but houses are disposable, you'll be told. Don't worry they will tell you, there are plenty of jobs out there. Which you'll think is true until you start applying and find out how many others are doing the exact same thing. Until you fail to get an interview, and the weeks and then the months go by. You'll feel just how disposable you really are by now. Married? Not if this continues you won't be, nothing says divorce faster than unemployment. For better or worse are just words now that no fault divorce exists. Of course then you'll start to hear about how lazy you are, how there are jobs for the asking, only you never seem to find them or know anyone else who does either. You'll be isolated and broke but so are hundreds of thousands of others just like you. All part of the disposable society.

Abortion and Fatherlessness are part of the same problem, that the future of our people and our nation is disposable. Babies and Fathers are both disposable to the modern family, surplus to requirement. That these things have consequences is absurd to these people. Whatever is good for today is best, the future doesn't exist. Afterall we always live in the present, so technically they are correct, not actually correct but then I'm one of those silly Conservatives who think that the future and that consequences are real things.

I hope you are not the victim of a crime, after all if you are you might expect that once caught the person who committed the crime against you should get serious punishment. Thats a shame because it's much more realistic to expect that they will not get a serious punishment. Sometimes we are all surprised, but how often have you scoffed at a prison sentence when you heard it? I know I have. A murderer can get less than 20 years but of course their victim got a death sentence, everyone who knew them got a life sentence, but they will get out in time to get on with life. How compassionate, how merciful, ohhh you think compassion and mercy should be shown to the victim and their loved ones? How old fashioned of you! What an old stick in the mud you are. Don't you know that if we are all equal then the difference between the guilty and the innocent is nothing at all. One life has already been lost how can you end a second life? The idea that to show mercy and compassion to the guilty shows contempt for the victim and their loved ones is absurd to these people. They encourage crime and then deny it, but you and I are not blind we can see the true. We know that the victims of crime are disposable, their only purpose is to create jobs for the police and the courts.

We will all die but that does not mean we are disposable. Our life is precious but Liberalism doesn't care about your life or about mine, it only cares about itself. If you happen to be on the wrong side of that, then you are disposable.